Read mystery
Read Mystery is an app design for users who enjoy reading crime, mystery, and thrillers. I wanted to design an app that combined the benefits of online reading and offline reading. Users would have easy access to their books right on their mobile devices, be able to get book recommendations from other readers and local bookstore owners, users would be able to find hard copies of their favourite books if they preferred to read hard copies. The community features would be like an online book club for readers who liked reading with others and talking about the books they were reading. The app also functions like a library and users are able to borrow and read books for a limited time.
challenge overview
The user are people who read mostly crime and mystery thrillers and they are across various walks of life, they are doctors, students, writers, and stay-at-home moms and they have specific needs. The major thing here is finding where to read books and what books to read. The product is giving them a solution to that and makes it accessible for them to discover new books and read them. The user is looking for books of a specific niche and they enjoy these books because they are intriguing and actively engages them in the speculation of how to solve a crime or mystery. Getting these books and being able to discuss them with others who read these kinds of books is of great value to the user.
Discovery: research and analysis
For my discovery process, I spoke to a number of potential users to know what their current reading process is and to gain insight into the things that will make reading more accessible and efficient for them.
I created a survey to screen interview participants, after which I spoke to five users to understand who they were, what motivates them to read, how and where they read and if the product, I was working on is something they will want to use and what kind of features would they like to see in a product like that. Key findings taken from this process are that about 60% of users already use digital products to read books and they found that features like samples and ratings and reviews helped them decide whether to read a book or not and it was likely for them to buy a book they eventually didn’t like. Different users read in different ways adjusting to their schedule and lifestyle, some had a space to relax and read and some read on the go to and fro from work. Users find benefit in book clubs and an online community will be of great benefit to them to be able to read and discuss with others.
design: concepts & sketching
Following my research, I took some of the insights I gained to try and see how I could create solutions that benefit the users with Crazy 8 and rapid sketching methods. Thinking of solutions like creating online communities where people can read books together, allowing users to rate and review the books they read, a loan system where users can loan or rent a book for a limited period instead of paying full price, insights into their reading habits, leaderboards, and competitions with friends, and then narrowing them down to the most useful and best options for the user.
develop: prototyping
I took all these insights and the best solutions I came up with and used that to create a working prototype to visualize how this app will work and how it’ll benefit the user. For my prototype, I focused on the online communities and reading insights solutions. These were the major challenges for the user, and they were core things that could be implemented. Online communities give users the ability to create and join groups, there could be private groups or open groups, and in these groups users will be able to select books to read and discuss them among themselves. The insights feature allows users to set reading goals and also see an overview of their reading habits on a monthly basis, showing them the books, they read, how often they read and other useful insights.
TEST: VALIDATION, USABILITY, FEEDBACK
After finalizing my first prototype I sent it out for testing. It performed well but I did have to tweak some things. I had to change where the insights were placed on the homepage because I realized that users were having a hard time finding them so I made it more pronounced and visible. I also addressed accessibility issues by making the book reading view have adjustable font sizes so users pick what works best for them. Another change I made was adding a microphone to the chat box to facilitate speech-to-text for users that might have issues with typing. I highlighted small text links and changed them to a different colour so users can understand that those were clickable.
solution & impact overview
This project was about creating a digital tool for crime and mystery readers and creating the best possible reading experience for them. It was about combining the best of the digital and bringing offline benefits into that experience. Readers who love to engage can do so even within a digital app, readers who rely on ratings, reviews, and recommendations can have that. Users can use insights to improve their reading habits, and set goals that are achievable and just really enjoy reading.